Nerida Treaty and the Rangers - First Fight
First Fight The first sword fight between Nerida and her mentor Gilan. “Thrust! Overhand! Backhand side!” Gilan called out his orders as he blocked my blows. I swung the sword to his commands, sweat rolling down my forehead. We were out near the cabin. The day was bright and sunny and not a cloud dotted the sky. Life in the surrounding forest seemed peaceful and…spring like. Yet, here we were practicing deadly sword techniques when we could have been enjoying the outdoors. Although I was extremely excited at first when Gilan told me we were going to work on the sword, but now, after exactly 6 hours of practicing, I was getting a little annoyed. Not too much. A lunch break would be good. A 2 hour lunch break would be perfect. “Cross parry! Thrust! Repeat!” Gilan began to shout. The anger that began to boil at my gut made me swing my sword harder which exhausted me even more. I was just tired of his commands. He said that this was what battleschool was like and after this I absolutely hate battleschool. Not my style of training. “Overhand!” Gilan said one last time. I did the movement rather shakily and Gilan twisted my sword with his own and flung it out of my grasp. I fell back wards into the grass and faced him gasping for air. He sheathed his sword. “Let’s take a break.” He said softly compared to his original shouting tone. I gave him a glare when he turned away. “’Way ahead of you.” I growled. He glanced back at my attitude but didn’t say anything. He picked up my sword and put both of the weapons to the side. I walked over to the shade and rested against a tree. “We’re going to work on this some more.” muttered Gilan half to himself. I glanced up at him then closed my eyes resting. “Can’t we have lunch first? It is past noon and I barely had anything to eat today.” I murmured. Gilan turned to me. “You can survive I want to practice with you one last time and then we will have lunch.” He said. I nearly jumped to my feet in anger. He was acting so strange. I wasn’t exactly sure why but it was really pissing me off. I felt an urge to grab the nearest sword and skewer him. I sighed and rolled over so my back was facing him. “Fine. Whatever.” I muttered. “Get up.” I heard him murmur. “Now?” I asked turning to him. “Yes now. Get up!” He exclaimed. I flinched and slowly stood up. I grabbed my sword and we walked over to the clearing. A sudden thought flew into my mind. Maybe he was treating me this way because I was so bad with the sword. Maybe I had no skill to train with the sword and Gilan was close to giving up. I knew I was. Half heartedly I held up my sword. I realized that my arms were sore and I was exhausted. I looked down at my hands and I was trembling slightly. I glanced up at Gilan to see if he noticed. His gaze was intense and he showed no sign that he saw my exhausted figure. He then lunged carrying a thrust with him. I instinctively blocked him and my hand swung the sword in automatic movements to defend myself. Gilan shouted commands and he was mostly using thrusts. I was panicking now, my breath coming out shallow and quick. He was trying to kill me! I desperately tried to defend myself. I began to back away and Gilan pushed me on. My arms were aching terribly. I swung the sword, hoping that Gilan would come to his senses. Once again, skewering him sounded awfully satisfying. But I didn’t think about that at the moment. I was intent on protecting myself from Gilan’s fatal blows. Overhand. Cross Parry. Backhand. Backstep. Backstep. Backstep. I kept searching Gilan’s eyes to see if he was actually noticing my panicked movements. There was no sign in his eyes. It was like he was a completely different person. I realized that I needed to focus on my movements and not Gilan. Unfortunately I didn’t notice in time. I dropped my defense and immediately I felt the cold blade of Gilan’s sword go across my arm. There was the damp blood soaking into my shirt and I felt pain. Pain like a fire burning in my arm. I dropped to the ground, literally throwing my sword aside. Exclaiming in pain I gripped my arm. “Neri!” Gilan cried. He dropped to his knees and was by my side in seconds. He looked at my wound and examined me for any more injuries. “I-I…” He trailed off uncertainly. There I finally decided to let my thoughts go. “What were you thinking?!” I shouted. He flinched and stared at me. He opened his mouth but after that shout I wanted to shout more because it felt good. “You looked like you were trying to kill me! This is my first training with the sword you know. I’m still learning! What’s wrong with you?” I asked. He gazed at me uncertainly. “I…” He couldn’t finish. I decided to continue. “I’m sorry if I’m not good enough with the sword. I’m sorry if I’m hard to train. I’m sorry I can’t be like you! But I’m not you! Stop trying to make me like you. I’m training to be a Ranger not a knight. I hate this!” I cried. Literally. Tears welled up in my eyes and were rolling down my cheeks. I pushed away from Gilan and kicked my sword farther away from me. I then ran away into the forest, still gripping my bleeding arm. Written by: Nerida Treaty